The total value of his estate was over 280£. He died intestate, but left
a document providing 24£ to his wife Rebecca. He left Nathaniel left him
over 61£ pounds. He left his land to Israel. He left half the house and
homestead to Jonathan and the other half to John. He left 20£ to Samuel
ALLIN. He left 32£ to Robert DANKs (husband of his daughter Rebecca). Detail
of the will is provided in 232 (67, 232).

Captain
Nathaniel RUST was born on 16 Nov 1671 or 17 Nov 1671 in Northampton, Hampshire,
MA.(224)
(3676)(3677) 068 says 16
Nov 1671, but 232 and 371 say 17 Nov 1671. He served between 1688 and 1698
in King William's War.(224)
(3678) Rust was among 25 men were served during this period from Northampton.
He moved in 1700 to Coventry, Tolland, CT.(3679) He signed a will in 1760 in Coventry, Tolland, CT.
(3680) He died after 1760 in Coventry, Tolland, CT.
(3681) He made out his will in 1760. He was buried in Old Coventry
Cem, Coventry, Tolland, CT. He was a Tavern keeper in Coventry, Tolland, CT.(3682) Parents:
Israel RUST and Rebecca CLARKE.

He married to
Mercy or Mary ATCHISON on 17 May 1692 in Northampton,
Hampshire, MA.(224)
(42)(3683) 068 says they
were married in Northampton, Hampshire, MA. 113 says that they were married in
Hadley, Hampshire, MA. Captain Nathaniel RUST (1671) and Mercy ATCHISON (1673)

Mercy ATCHISON was born on 30 Oct 1672 to John and Deliverance ATCHISON of Hatfield,
Massachusetts. In 1677, when she was only about five years old, her father was
killed by Indians (68).

In 1689, at the age of 16, Nathaniel served in King William's War (known as the
War of Grand Alliance in Europe). He did not end his service until 1697 at the
age of 28 (67).

On 17 May 1692, during his military service, Nathaniel married Mercy ATCHISON
in either Northampton, Hampshire, MA (68) or Hadley Hampshire, MA (113).

On 24 Jul 1699, Nathaniel appeared before Springfield Office of Register of Deeds
and took out a mortgage for two acres of land with house and barn in Northampton.
The loan was financed by Richard Lord of Hartford. On 17 Jul 1702, he paid 11£
4 shillings in cash to satisfy the loan (67, 232).

In 1700, Nathaniel left his home in Northampton and traveled south along the
Connecticut River and arrived in Hartford, a young village in the woods. From
there they headed east into a Connecticut wilderness to become the first settlers
of what is now south Coventry in Tolland County. The journey was no doubt difficult.
The Early History of Coventry, Connecticut (67) records this account as follows:
"On leaving Hartford Nathaniel directed his course eastward to a wild and
unsettled wilderness and there made the first 'pitch' in what is now Coventry,
Tolland Co., CT. The course followed by Nathaniel was along the Olde Connecticut
Path (generally along U.S. Route 44), passed through the Notch at Bolton and
continuing along the Path into the territory of Waungumbaug which was renamed
Coventry. Finding two closely flowing sizable rivers (Skungamaug and Willimantic),
he stopped to reconnoiter the area and finding also a most beautiful lake (Waungumbaug)
with its surrounding fertile land, his mind was immediately made up where he
was to make his first 'pitch.' This was in 1700; on the west side of this beautiful
lake he erected the first house ever built there."

Nathaniel RUST was the first man to settle Coventry, CT and became one of its
most prominent citizens (232).

By 1706, a few other families had settled in the area, so the 9 May 1706 session
of General Court Hartford appointed a committee to lay out the town that was
to include "Wm. Pitkin, Wm. Whiting Joseph Talcott, Richard Lord, and Nathaniel
Rust, or any three of them." According to 69, the committee later submitted
to the legislature the following report:
"We whose names are underwritten appointed by the General Court of Connecticut
a committ. to layout the town of Coventry of the contents of six miles square
in a greater tract or parcel of land given by Attawanhood in his last will, to
certain men in and about Hartford. We have accordingly laid out the bounds of
sd. town as followeth, viz.: "To butt or be bounded by Willimantic river
on the E. partly on the bounds of Hebron, and partly on lands given by Joshua,
Sachem in his last will to his children on the south etc. is bounded N. &
W. by lands given to Hartford gentlemen by sd. Joshua. The sd. town bounded beginning
at Willimantic river at a stake & stones set in a field or small enclosure
of land made by Samuel Burchard joining the sd. river and thence runs west by
the needle of the compass 6 1/2 miles to a heap of stones between two hills;
& from that heap of stones it runs N. by the needle to 6 3/4 & 20 1/2
rods to a heap of stones mad on the N. side of a cedar Swamp commonly called
Windsor cedar swamp; the sd. heap of stones it runs east by compass to Willimantic
River. " Signed: Wm. Pitkin, Joseph Talcott, Wm. Whiting, and Nathaniel
Rust.
The 11 Oct 1711 session of the General Court ordered that said town to be called
Coventry. Coventry was incorporated less then a year later (232).

According to 232, Nathaniel and Mercy had 10 children. The first were born in
Northampton but the last were born in Coventry. It would seem most likely that
those that were Coventry-born were born after 1709. All 10 children were raised
in the Coventry wilderness. The children eventually raised their own families
in Coventry.
1. Experience RUST born Nov 1693. Married Samuel GURLEY. Died 23 Feb 1760 in
Mansfield, Tolland, CT.
2. Nathaniel RUST Jr. born Dec 1695 in Northampton
3. Margaret RUST born 11 May 1698. Died 18 Sep 1712 (first death in Coventry).
4. Lydia RUST born 20 Nov 1700 in Northampton.
5. Samuel RUST born 10 May 1703 in Northampton.
6. Mary RUST born 7 July 1705 in Northampton.
7. Noah RUST born 24 July 1708 in Northampton.
8. Daniel RUST born 18 February 1711 in Coventry
9. Elizabeth RUST born 11 June 1713 in Coventry. My direct line ancestor.
10. Lydia RUST born 9 May 1716 in Coventry. Married Joseph HERRICK.

In 1709, Nathaniel sold his residence in Northampton (previously owned by Samuel
Parson) and moved his family to Coventry (232).

The 11 Oct 1711 session of the General Court gave unto the committee the responsibility
of "procuring and settling" a minister of the gospel (69).

Nathaniel's father died back in Northampton on 11 Nov 1712. He left Nathaniel
about 61£ (67).

According to 232, Nathaniel RUST was extremely active in town affairs.
· He was elected a town selectman for 12 years (71), but the period is unclear
in 232 where it records Nathaniel as being elected on 3 Dec 1714, 5 Dec 1715,
and 6 Dec 1736.
· He was elected Tavern Keeper on 3 Dec 1714, 3 Dec 1716, and 10 Dec 1717
(232). He kept a tavern for many years (68). The requirement to be tavern keeper,
at the time, was to own a stable room for two horses and a spare bed. Nathaniel
established himself as a stopover for weary travelers (70).
· Nathaniel signed a 1716 petition to the CT General Assembly asking for
settlement of town boundary disputes (Jan).
· He protested the re-deeding or forcing a re-conveyance of Mile and a Quarter
- what the locals called Coventry for some time (232).
· He was elected to a committee to re-measure the town plat in 11 Apr 1720
(232).
· He was elected Moderator at town meetings on 5 Jan 1732, 11 Dec 1732,
15 Feb 1734, 10 Dec 1733, and 24 Jun 1737 (232).
· Chosen for the school committee on 27 Jan 1734-35.
· On 10 Feb 1726 or 1727, the town elected Nathaniel, Benjamin Carpenter,
and Peter Buell to inspect and collect "sartin sums of money due to ye town
upon and acount whatsoever" (69).

Mercy died on 21 Jan 1754 at the age of 80. Less than eight months later, on
9 Sep 1754, at the age of 82, Nathaniel married Mary ROSE (68, 232).

Nathaniel was 90 when he wrote his will. He made Samuel RUST and Ezekial HERRICK
his executors (67).

Samuel
RUST was baptised on 5 Aug 1638 in Hingham, Plymouth, MA.
(3695)(3696) He served between
Nov 1675 and Jun 1676 in King Philip's War.(94)(3697) Savage says he served
under Captain Sill and wrote a memo dating 15 Apr 1676, in which he asked for
his wages and said that he had served 9 months and that he had a wife. Savage
says there is no record of a wife in Boston and suggests that she died in the
war. He Served in the for nine months under Captain Joseph Gardiner. He was
paid about 8£ between Nov 1675 and Jun 1676.
(94) He died between 1679 and 1684.
(3698) 232 estimates Samuel died between 1676 and 1684, but fails
to note the child born in 1679, which is the limiting factor. Parents:
Henry RUST and UNKNOWN.

Samuel
RUST was born about 1714 in Boston, Suffolk, MA.
(3701)(3702) Date from Gloucester
Vital Records (509). Place from Albert Rust (232). Albert Rust says he was born
about 1704 but I trust GVR more and GVR puts him 3 years older than his wife
not 13. He was a Butcher before 1738 in Boston, Suffolk, MA.
(3703) He owned Purchased a house, barn, orchard and 26 acres of land
in 1738 in Gloucester, Essex, MA.(3704)
He bought the property from Anna's father, John PROCTOR of Ipswich for £340.
On this site, Samuel kept operated a tavern. He was a Mariner and tavern keeper
after 1738 in Gloucester, Essex, MA.(3705) The tavern became known as the Old Rust Tavern and was later run by Sam's
son Benjamin (232). He signed a will on 14 Mar 1781.
(3706) He died on 8 Feb 1782 in Gloucester, Essex, MA.
(3707) He died "of small-pox caught from a hat of a sailor who
landed from a cartel from Halifax and stopped at Rust Tavern at the head of Little
River" (232). Gloucester Vital records (509) says he died of "smallpox
natural way." Parents: Samuel RUST and
Mary.

Nathaniel
SARGEANT was born in 1702 in Gloucester, Essex, MA.
(3717) He Intention on 9 Nov 1725 in Gloucester, Essex, MA.
(3718) He was a Tavern keeper in Gloucester, Essex, MA.
(3719) According to Babson, "It was probably this Nathaniel Sargent
who kept a Tavern at the corner of Middle and Pleasant Streets [in Gloucester]
about ninety years ago." Babson published his book in 1972, so this would
have been 1882. On the other hand, Nathaniel would have been 80 then (231).
Parents: Nathaniel SARGEANT and
Sarah HARVEY.

Nathaniel
SARGEANT was born on 28 Mar 1671 in Gloucester, Essex, MA.
(3721)(3722) He was a Tavern
keeper in 1727 in Gloucester, Essex, MA.(3723) Babson (231) notes that this tavern may have been the "house of
entertainment [that] was kept for several years, in the early part of the last
century, for the accommodation of mariners passing through the cut." It
may have been "at Done Fudging, where his father had lived" (231).
He died on 12 Dec 1732 in Gloucester, Essex, MA.
(3724) He was Selectman (for several years) in Gloucester, Essex,
MA.(3725) Parents:
William SARGENT and Abigail CLARK.

William
SARGENT was born on 20 Jun 1624.(3755)(3756) He resided Near old burial
ground. in 1649 in Gloucester, Essex, MA.(3757)(3758) In this year, William
was issued a land grant. He was Representative in 1671 in Gloucester, Essex,
MA.(3759) He was Representative between
1690 and 1691.(3760) He died on 19
Feb 1717 in Gloucester, Essex, MA.(3761)(3762) William died at the age of 93
"having serviced all of his compeers in the early settlement of the town
[of Gloucester]" (231). He was Selectman (for several years) in Gloucester,
Essex, MA.(3763) Parents:
Andrew SARGENT and Mary WATHEN.